


And They Lived Happily Ever After

by adventuresinastrangeworld



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 09:11:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13995075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adventuresinastrangeworld/pseuds/adventuresinastrangeworld
Summary: Exploring the idea of a happy ending for the Solas and Lavellan story post Trespasser.





	And They Lived Happily Ever After

 

> I think we deserve  
>  a soft epilogue, my love.  
>  We are good people  
>  and we’ve suffered enough.  
>  _\- Seventy Years of Sleep #4. Nikka Ursula._

* * *

 

“There is no point in fighting anymore, vhenan. It is done.”

Alverna Lavellan sunk to her knees as the song of the Veil swelled and grew discordant. The music rose from every corner of Thedas and thrummed in her ears like inevitability. The reality that had been for thousands of years was warped as the Fade bled through. She let the weight of her weapons drop from her shoulders. Dal’Thanu clattered against the cave floor, the sound punctured by the metallic thud of the grey iron prosthetic she used as a rigid parry.

“I have dreamed for so long of this moment.” Solas knelt in front of her, cupping her cheek with his hand. 

She looked away.

“It is over. Our people will recover their place in the world and we…” He choked, “We can be together. If you’ll still have me.”

“Solas.” His name like an accusation of betrayal from her lips.

“Solas.” His name like broken wanting.

“Solas.” His name like a prayer for mercy. 

Her eyes met his, glistening with years of unshed tears.

“Vhenan.” She said, her voice the sound of his heart shattering.

He gathered her in his arms, pulling her close. Alverna let her tears fall into his shoulder even as he wet hers with his sorrows. Eternity passed on that cave floor as the lovers released all the pain and hurt in their hearts.

The discordant melody of the dying Veil was joined by the faintest of harmonies. So soft and quiet, a listener would almost need to know it was there to hear it.

“Vhenan.” He said, his heart emptied of woe, the cave made tranquil in the aftermath of a good cry, “Please, please let me come back to you. I would give you everything this time. The whole of my heart, my soul, and all the years we might walk together.”

“I tried so hard to hate you.” Alverna confessed, “To harden my heart against you. For what you did to me, and what you planned to do to the world.”

He said nothing, but held her tight, lest her next sentence take her away from him again. She squeezed him closer, hand gripping the wolf pelt at his back, balling the fur in her fist.

“But I couldn’t.” She sobbed, breaking his heart all over again, “I love you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” He whispered into her hair, “I wish I could have spared you that. That I didn’t have to tear down the Veil. That I had not been so weak when we first met. Vhenan. Forgive me.”

She looked up at him, her heart on her face. When he looked into her eyes, he saw nothing but love.

“Solas. Vhenan. My love. I already have.” 

Her words unlocked all the secret places in his heart where he had hidden away his love. It came rushing back in a flood he could no longer restrain. He crushed his lips against hers. She met them like a starving man given a feast, her hand moving to the nape of his neck trying to impossibly draw him closer. His hands tangled in her hair while they tried to devour each other in their want.

The kiss only broke when neither had enough air to continue. They sat, foreheads pressed together, panting.

The harmony swelled, overtaking the discordant melody of the Veil song.

“What…is that?” Solas pulled away from his lover, trying to find the source of the new tune.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

He looked down at her in horror.

“Vhenan, what have you  _done_?”

“Did you know Leliana is a lyrium ghost?” Her voice was a knife in the back, “She’s tuned to the Fade  _and_ the Veil in ways I can’t even begin to describe. And Cole and Dagna too. They worked and worked and found a way to refresh the Veil. Bull helped us get agents into place, to turn  _your_ agents to our side. Cullen planned head-on attacks to keep you from suspecting.”

Her words numbed him.

_No…_

He  _was_ paralyzed…the kiss…

“Vhenan…” He pleaded.

“Sera and Vivienne worked together on the poison.” She cupped his cheek, “ _Together._ I didn’t even know that was possible. _”_

“It was…a lie.” He slumped. She caught him, lowering him gently to the floor. Reality reasserted itself around them as the harmony the Inquisition had created supplanted the broken Veil melody completely.

“No.” She stroked his head, “I love you.”

“You’ve undone me.” His lids were heavy, he could barely keep his eyes open.

“I learned from you.” She whispered, kissing him again. The softness of her lips was the last thing he felt before the world went dark around him.

When Solas awoke he found himself in a small, one room cabin. Sunlight filtered in the window, illuminating the dust that danced in the air. Herbs hung from the rafters drying, and something delicious was bubbling on a merry fire. Alverna’s voice carried in from outside through the windows, she was singing.

He swung his legs out of bed. Gone was the armor of Fen’Harel, replaced by the simple clothes of Solas. Like a dream he followed the sound of Alverna’s song outside. The noonday sun was warm on his skin and the aroma of flowers filled the summer air. 

Alverna was nearby, seated on the ground and tending to a garden. She too was without armor, wearing only simple trousers and a loose tunic with a grubby apron tied around her waist. The sight of her, so open, so carefree, so unburdened was a panacea unto his soul.

“My love.” He walked towards her.

“You’re awake!” She smiled up at him, setting aside her tools.

“Is this…the Fade? Are we  _physically_ in the Fade?”

“Do you like the cabin? Cole helped me make it.” She rose to greet him, dusting her hands off on the apron.

“The Veil…”

“Is in place and stronger than ever. Dorian says it should be a few millennia before it starts to break down again, give or take a few blood mages.” Her face was soft, “He said that. About the blood mages.”

“But…the elves…they will never be as they once were.  _You have denied me my atonement._ ” His pulse quickened and anger reddened his ears.

“Nor should they be. You put the Veil up for a reason in the first place.” She countered with calm and patience, “We can build on the past, but we cannot allow ourselves to be dragged backwards by it.”

“You have betrayed your people.” His words hung hollow in the air, mocking him.

“No. I saved them from you. Saved them from what you thought they should be. The elves are free to forge a future for themselves.” Her gentleness wrapped her words like a blanket, “That means they must also be free to fail.”

Solas sunk to the earth as the finality of defeat encompassed him.

He was so tired.

Tired of fighting.

Tired of failing.

Tired of losing.

Tired of trying to live as a god.

But most of all, he was tired of denying himself what he wanted.

“Then this is my prison. My punishment. Eternity in the Fade, the people forever beyond my reach, my help.”

“I had hoped you would see this more as a home than a prison,” She sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. He drew her into his lap and clung to her. Burying his face in her neck against despair. She embraced him with love.

“They are not beyond our reach,” she whispered, “The elves still dream, and when they do  _we_ will be there. Together. As it should have been.”

They held each other in silence for awhile. Solas turning new thoughts and old in his mind while she waited patiently for him.

“I have been a fool.”

“I know, vhenan.”

“I was no better than the Evanuris. Forcing the people into the idea of what  _I_ thought they should be.”

“I know, vhenan.”

“I was blinded by the glory of the past. I did not look to the future.”

“I know, vhenan.”

“I love you.”

“I know, vhenan.”

They kissed.

They had kissed so many times before. But this kiss?  _This_ kiss was the first of its kind. It was pure. All their secrets, their plans, their machinations, and their lies had come to an end. Nothing was left between them but love. It was new, and frightening, and wholly unknown to them. But they had all eternity to explore it.

* * *

_All elves are attuned to the Fade. Magic is as much of their being as their blood or bone. If you ask them, they will tell you it is the dream. A dream that all elves have when they are very young. Elf children will dream of a pack, lead by two great wolves. In the dream, the great wolves reach out and touch the child, awakening their magic._

_Some of the old dalish hahren say the pack ran the Dread Wolf off, for the one cannot stand for the many. Others say it is the Dread Wolf’s pack and he walks the Fade with his mate, Fen’Dirthara and their cubs seeking to atone for the past betrayal of the people._

_Whatever these Fade spirits truly are, it is clear they have claimed the Elven people as their own._

_-Excerpt from “The People of Var Vhenas” by Brother Atticus, 10:9 Nug_

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to play around with how the Fade/Veil worked based on @more-aoe theory on harmonics and the Veil
> 
> Alverna means “Friend of the Elves” because I think I’m clever
> 
> I was trying to think of a realistic happy ending to the Solas x Lavellan story and ended up heavily influenced by the end of Merlin (the 1998 miniseries)
> 
> Written out this took up 7 quarter sheets of scrap paper at work


End file.
